Szanszkrit eszközök

Declension of nouns ending with vowel:
Irregular nouns ending with vowel

Contents

• Introduction
• Nouns ending with ī
• Lakṣmī
• Strī
• Nouns ending with i and u
• Sakhi
• Pati
• The neuter nouns asthi, dadhi, sakthi and akṣi
• Kroṣṭu
• Nouns ending with ṛ
• Nṛ

← Back to main page

Introduction

In this chapter, we will show you the declension tables of a few irregular nouns that end with vowel. By irregular nouns, we mean nouns that don't completely follow the regular declension patterns that we covered in the previous chapters. In other words, they are exceptions to the general declension rules that we have already mentioned.

Nouns ending with ī

Lakṣmī

The noun lakṣmī differs from the regular declension pattern of normal feminine nouns ending in ī (like nadī) only in the Nominative singular, where a Visarga (ḥ) is added to the ending¹Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 104, §225.

Below, the declension of lakṣmī is shown alongside the one of nadī, for comparison:

Strī

The noun strī, meaning "woman", is declined similarly to the regular declension pattern of normal feminine nouns ending in ī (like nadī), except for two differences²Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 108, §228. The first difference is that, in some cases, it adds an "i" between the stem and the ending to avoid the accumulation of four consonants ("stry"); for example, the Instrumental singular is striyā, and not stryā. The second difference is that there are two additional optional forms: striyam for the Accusative singular and striyaḥ for the Accusative plural.

Strī (feminine)

Nouns ending with i and u

Sakhi

Sakhi, meaning "friend", follows a declension pattern of its own³Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 111, §232:

Sakhi (masculine)

Compound nouns where sakhi is the last member, like, for example, susakhi (which means "good friend"), follow another irregular declension pattern, different from the one for sakhi (the differences are in the Instrumental/Dative/Ablative/Genitive/Locative singular). Below is the declension of susakhi:

Susakhi (masculine)

Pati

The word pati, meaning "lord", is irregular⁴Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 112, §233:

Pati (masculine)

On the other hand, compound nouns where pati is the last member, like, for example, the masculine noun bhūpati (which means "lord of the earth"), follow the regular declension pattern for masculine nouns ending in i, like kavi.

The neuter nouns asthi, dadhi, sakthi and akṣi

The table of endings for the neuter nouns asthi ("bone"), dadhi ("curds"), sakthi ("thigh") and akṣi ("eye") is slightly different from the one for the regular neuter nouns ending in i⁵Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 112, §234. For example, below is the declension of asthi:

Asthi (neuter)

The declensions of dadhi and sakthi follow the exact same pattern; in order to decline them, just replace "asth" in the above table with "dadh" or "sakth", depending on which of the nouns you want to decline.

Akṣi also follows the same pattern, but with the detail that some endings will undergo slight changes due to a Sandhi rule. Below is the declension of akṣi. In the cases marked with *, the "n" of the ending changed to "ṇ" due to the 18th Rule of Consonant Sandhi:

Akṣi (neuter)

Kroṣṭu

Kroṣṭu, meaning "jackal", is declined irregularly⁵Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 113, §236:

Kroṣṭu (masculine)

Nouns ending with ṛ

Nṛ

The noun nṛ, meaning "man", is declined regularly like pitṛ, except in the Genitive plural, where it can be either nṛṇām or nṝṇām⁶Müller, "A Sanskrit grammar for beginners", p. 114, §237:

Nṛ (masculine)

Top ↑